Trade and Industry Minister of State Lee Yi Shyan - in response to Member of Parliament Mdm Ho Geok Choo's queries - said Singapore's national productivity data is obtained by aggregating output of industries and dividing it by the workers employed.

As such, the ministry is unable to obtain separate productivity measurements for Singaporean and foreign workers, he said.

But is it really not possible to distinguish foreign workforce productivity from that of the local workforce? And if it can be done, should Singapore do it?